Capture The Magic Of Clouds

Clouds have been a popular subject with photographers since panchromatic film made it possible to differentiate them from the sky in photographs! They still remain popular. The inclusion of interesting clouds can make a landscape shot, and they are often worth photographing simply for their structural beauty. However, photographing clouds can present some problems for digital photographers.

Early morning and late afternoon can provide excellent conditions for cloud photography.

You need no special equipment to take good cloud pictures, although wide-angle lenses can be useful in many situations, while telephoto lenses will be preferable for certain types of shots. More important is being in the right place with the right equipment at the right time.

Early morning and late afternoon are usually the best times for cloud pictures. Around the middle of the day the light can be very strong and contrasty, with a wide brightness range that few sensors can capture. Small sensor digicams are particularly limited in this respect as they will be unlikely to reproduce the subtle variations in colours and tones that make engaging cloud pictures. Even DSLR sensors can deliver indifferent results in some situations.

The best cloud pictures result from adequate preparation, which combines knowing what to look for with understanding which camera settings to use. Remember that clouds are ephemeral and constantly changing. In seconds they can vanish into invisible vapour then reappear in visible form. Watch, click and catch the moment.
Never look through the viewfinder directly at the sun, as it can result in eye damage and may damage your camera’s sensor and electronics. When photographing a halo or corona around the sun, find some object with which to block out the solar disc.

Exposure
Although correct exposures are critical, clouds can be difficult to meter. If you measure a bright part of the cloud the shot may be under-exposed; meter on a dark area and it will be over-exposed. Wherever possible, meter on a part of the sky or cloud that looks medium grey or use an incident light meter or grey card to judge exposure levels. If your camera can record Raw files, shooting Raw should provide the flexibility you need to obtain good results, even with wide-brightness-range subjects.

Check exposures as you shoot. Even though the LCD may not give you accurate colours, you can usually tell whether the shot is correctly exposed. If your camera can display warnings that highlight over-exposed areas, use them to adjust exposure levels to minimise highlight blow-out.
Be prepared for compromises. If there is a great sky and the foreground is very dark, expose for the sky. Where the detail in the foreground is important to the success of the shot, use a graduated neutral density filter to hold back the exposure on the sky and allow the foreground detail to be revealed.

Low ISO settings usually produce the best results, particularly with small-sensor digicams, where noise is almost unavoidable with high sensitivity settings. Use a tripod when light levels are low to reduce the risk of camera shake, and trigger the shutter with the self-timer or a remote control.

Using Polarisers
A polarising filter can be used to increase the contrast between bright clouds and a strong blue sky, thereby emphasising the structure of the clouds. Unfortunately, it’s easy to overexpose the cloud or underexpose the sky when shooting with a polariser, so they must be used with discretion.

The light of the sky is polarised to some degree, with the highest polarisation at about 90 degrees from the solar beam and least near the sun or opposite the sun. You can usually find the areas that are most strongly polarised by pointing the camera to various parts of the sky and adjusting the angle of the filter.

For some shots, setting the filter to provide a moderate degree of polarisation will produce more natural-looking pictures than setting it for heavy polarisation. Be prepared to adjust the angle of the filter until the balance between the sky and the clouds is correct.

Polarisers reduce the influence of atmospheric haze and help make pictures look sharper and more vibrant.

Composition
Good cloud pictures present an attractive balance between sky and land. When you wish to concentrate on the clouds themselves and there’s nothing of importance in the foreground, keep the horizon low. Where the foreground contains some critical elements, include them but try to avoid things like power lines and other man-made structures unless they contribute something to the shot. Tree branches sometimes come in handy as frames for a photograph.

Stacked cumulus and storm clouds are often best photographed from a distance, with trees silhouetted in the foreground to add impact and perspective to the composition.

Photographing from Aircraft
Travellers are often disappointed by the pictures of clouds they have taken through aircraft windows. Such shots are often unsharp and they may be interrupted by reflections of subjects inside the cabin on the aircraft windows.
There are several ways to ensure you have a chance of getting good shots:

1. Try to get a seat in front of the wing. If you sit behind the wing you will be photographing through disturbed air, especially from the jet exhaust.
2. Don’t use a polariser. Polarisers will create rainbow effects in the Perspex window and these will be recorded in your shots.
3. To minimise reflections from the window, wear dark clothing and/or use a large rubber lens hood that can shield extraneous light. (You don’t want to put a rigid hood in contact with the window.)
4. Shoot with a fast medium telephoto to get through the dirt on the windows, setting a relatively high shutter speed (at least 1/250 second) to minimise the effect of vibration.
5. You may need to stand up to point your camera downwards is you wish to capture clouds against the backdrop of the land.

When shooting clouds from an aircraft, use a medium telephoto lens plus a flexible lens hood and point the camera downwards to shoot clouds against a background of the landscape below.